The following procedures shall be followed whenever a school official has reasonable cause to suspect that a staff member is seriously ill and the illness is affecting the employee’s ability to perform job responsibilities or poses an unacceptable risk to the health and safety of the employee or others. Reasonable cause may exist in but not be limited to situations where the employee’s health is observed to be deteriorating to the point of interfering with the performance of duties, when the employee displays persistent physical symptoms of illness, or where there is similar reasonable evidence of such illness.
The superintendent will be the staff member responsible for coordinating the school district’s effort to evaluate the employment status of an employee in accordance with these procedures. For purposes of these procedures, the superintendent shall be referred to as the “school officer.”
It is improper for any employee, with knowledge or reasonable grounds to suspect that he/she is infected with a communicable disease, to willfully expose or infect another with such disease, or to knowingly perform an act or engage in conduct which exposes or infects another person with such disease.
Any staff member infected with HIV is encouraged to report this fact directly to the school officer.
If a supervisor has been informed or has reasonable cause to believe that an employee has an illness which is interfering with job performance or posing an unacceptable health risk to the employee or others, the supervisor shall notify the school officer as soon as possible. The school officer shall confer individually with the supervisor and the staff member to assess the situation.
Evaluation of employment status
When an employee is determined to be unfit for continued duty because it has been determined that the employee is incapable of performing the essential functions of the position or poses a direct threat to the health or safety of himself/herself or others, the employee will be entitled to use any accumulated sick leave in accordance with district policies.
When an employee has exhausted all sick leave and other applicable leave options and is deemed unfit to resume duties, employment may be terminated through the employee’s resignation, retirement or dismissal in accordance with applicable district policies and applicable law.
Confidentiality
All information gained by the district through the application of the accompanying policy and these procedures shall be treated as confidential. Information will be disclosed only as appropriate in connection with these procedures.
Approved: Prior to 2018
Revised: June 2018
Revised: September 2020
Lake County School District R-1, Leadville, Colorado